I Author . 



1*0 



■■'.*• 


am.t..l.l3. 


f^.AL'^s:. 



Title .Tjr.ft.C<?cAjWc^....fe(ktAntt^..L^^ 

OC\,,2:^,^JSOG^__ 

Imprint _ 



!•— 4T8T1-I •^O 



You are earnestly asked to hand this, 
after reading, to some other person a.ho 
leill also give it careful consideration. 



PROCEEDINGS 

FOLLOWING THE LUNCHEON 
GIVEN BY THE 

Anti-Imperialist League 

MONDAY. OCTOBER 22 -^ .m^ 

AT THE ROOMS OF THE TWENTIETH 
CENTURY CLUB 

TO 

Hon. James H. Blount 



PUBLISHED BV 

THE ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAGUE 

20 CENTRAL STREET, BOSTON 






PROCEEDINGS 

.Mr. .Mourfickl Storey calk'd the meeting to order. 

Mil. MOOliFlKLD iSTOKIvY'S KEMAliKS 

Ladies and (leiitlenien of the Anti-Iinperiali?-t League: It is 
very })leasant to meet you here in such goodly n\unl)ers as we 
begin a new annual campaign of active agitation in favor of 
Filipino independence. On this occasion we arc here to pro- 
vide ourselves with fresh ammunition. From your exjK'rience 
wth me you know that on most occas^ions I am not averse to 
speaking, but on this occasion, I am here to listen. I believe 
that there are two serious vices into which a presiding officer 
may readily fall. One is to introduce the speaker of the even- 
ing in a speech of such length as more or less to take away the 
freshness, of the speaker's ammunition and the other is to talk 
about it from an entirely erroneous standpoint, so that the 
speaker is obliged to spend his time in correcting the mistate- 
ments that may have been made; so 1 shall content myself with 
introducing to you Judge Blount. 

JT'DCE 7]LOrxrS SPEEOIL 

It is a matter of very great concern to me that I shall say 
nothing in this country that I shall be ashamed for niy friends 
in the Philippines to hear. "When you have served beyond the 
seas for six or seven years you have grown close to the peo])lc 
over there. ''T have eaten their bread and salt. TJie deatlk? 
that thev died I have watched beside and the lives that they 
led were mine." Therefore, I have determined that I shall 
say nothing except in a spirit of judicial fairness about the situa- 
tion there. I am an Anti-Imperialist for the reason that "I do 
not know the method of drawing an indictment agains*^ a whole 
pe(^ple." To be specific, in the fall of 11)04, during the presi- 
dential cam])aign in the United States, there was an insurrec- 
tion going on in the Island of Samar. Fifty thousand people 



had been made homeless by the operations of a band of brigands, 
as testified before my court by an officer of the constabulary of 
that province. The brigandage law is an outgrowth first of 
the seditiion law and, with all due respect to the Secretary of 
War, it is absolutely an untenable position to say that there is 
no political significance to the brigandage now going on in those 
islands. It is simply to deny the proposition that post-bellum 
brigandage always represents the embers of a late war. Now 
if the Secretary can prove that to you, he can do more than any 
public man that I know of in the world. In what I shall say 
I shall try to be fair; and before going further, permit me to 
say that I was very much pained to find that one of your Bos- 
ton papers had not correctly quoted me in what I said last Sat- 
urday at the luncheon of the 20th Century Club, and I owe it 
to myself and to the friends I have served with in the Philip- 
pines to correct this mistatement; and I have written to the 
editor of the Boston Post a letter which I have not seen^ yet. 
(The letter appeared next day.) It is as follows: 
To the Editor of the 'Tost":' 

Dear Sir: In your report this morning of my speech at the 
20th Century Club you have represented me as saying that Sec- 
retary Taft deceived the Filipino people. I did not say that. 
I said that Secretary Taft failed to undeceive the Filipino peo- 
ple. I have never saiid anything in any public utterance in this 
country inconsistent with what Mr. Biwan said at Manila, that 
the intentions of the administration were good. I am not an 
incenddarv. I think that this question ought to be settled 
among our public men. Mr. Taft believes that the Filipinos 
should be held in tutelage indefinitely. Mr. Bryan believes 
that thev should be allowed to pursue happiness in their own 
way. This is the issue. 

I came home from the Philippines with the regrets of that 
government, and, further, with an endorsement by the Gover- 
nor-General of my fitness, from what he had seen of my adminis- 
tration, for the position of Ignited States District Judge in my 
own State, in event of Judge Speer's promotion to the Circuit 
bench. 

/■ Judge Taft is too valuable a man for the disciples of Thomas 
Jefferson to attack him in the wrong Avay. I should be very 
proud to have Judge Taft as a guest in my owm home. I have 
never said that he deceived the Filipinos. I have only said 
that he failed to undeceive them as to their hopes for ultimate 



iiKlcpciKlciicc, licid (lilt liv Scci-f|;irv Kool Jit the lupuldiran 
.\;iti<iii;il ( '<)ii\ciiti(iii (if I'.IOl. 

■^ A'crv respectfully, 

James II. niouiit. 
Bostuii, Octnlier 21, 1000. 

The sitiuuiuii in the Pliilipi)ine.s is very diflieult to present in 
a short limit of time. As Gov. Taft sa^id to the Senate Com- 
mittee in February, 1902: ''Wlieu a man has been out there 
two years ami heeome saturated with the subject; anywhere you 
tap liim he runs.'" The central thought I would lodge with 
you is this: It has been a game of battle-door and .><hut tie-cock 
in whicdi >clti-]i interests at home and political eonsich-rations 
inherent in our. form of government have Avorked to the detri- 
memt of the Filipino people. The Filipinos ?<aw in the Peace 
Protocol of August 12, 1898, a cloud on the horizon no larger 
than a man's hand. There was a string tied to the Philippines. 
Put T shall hurry on to the present as quickly as is consistent 
with clearne-^s. Between the Battle of Manila Bav and the 
IVace Protocol was "the era of good feeling." It was then 
possible for Americans to see that the Filipinos were capable of 
running a government of their own. They hailed us as de- 
liverers. Admiiral Dewey cabled the government that they 
were more ca]>able of self-government than the Cuban:--. Then 
later came the clash of arms because evidently then it was a 
question simply of a change of masters. The Schurman Com- 
mission came out with the olive branch and got there too late. 
If, day after day. and in night attacks too, you are "up against" 
a people who fight game and die game and dying cry: "Viva 
la l\(>pul)lipa Fili]>ina!" you have no doubt that they know 
what thev want. It is impossible to convince the Secietary of 
War of that. TT(^ has never grasped the fundamental fact of 
the situation that those people will never be content with some- 
thing less than independence. The general yearning for a 
national life of their own is the most tremendous fact in the 
situation. In four years on the bench in the Philippines, I 
have heard a< much eloquent argument and seen eases as well 
pre])arefl bv mendiers (^f the Filipino Bar as a circuit judge in 
this country would in the same length of time. Each of those 
lawyers has a wide circle of (dients. In many cases those law- 
yers Avere cohuiels or generals or other officers in the insurgent, 
army. The great inarticulate mass?s of the people look to 



them for their opinions and advice. They say: "We know 
you, we trust you, we have fought under you. You tell us 
that the intentions of the American Government toward us are 
good. What are those intentions? Cta. you tell us?" No, 
the lawyer cannot tell them, because the American Government 
has never declared its intentions. If he was in a position to 
tell them it woitld be different. He cannot control their agita- 
tion. He is a power among them, and could incite them to re- 
volt, but he cannot keep down manifestations of discontent. 
This is the true theory upon which to account for a large part 
of this post bellum brigandage representing, as I say, the embers 
of a late war. But once the representative lawyer of a com- 
munity should tell his clients what the intentions of this gov- 
ernment are; ipso facto, most of the unrest in the Philippines 
will at once stop. In the public press an accoimt of a letter of 
Secretary Taft to the Bishop of Massachusetts was given which 
replied to the question: "Why not make a declaration of our 
purpose now?" substantially thus: "The gentlemen who are now 
agitating- for independence, if you made such a declaration, 
would agitate a good deal more actively than ever with a view 
of hastening the day." The reply of Mr. Bryan's friends to 
that iis this: "Fix the date!" In other words, if you say to 
this wide circle of Filipinos referred to: "You may hope to 
live to see the independence of your country," that will be suf- 
ficient. I would not undertake to fix the time. We have had 
it all the way from Mr. Bryan's five or ten or fifteen years to 
Senator ]SJ"ewland's and Senator Dubois's thirty years. But the 
main question is to fix a date. The main thing is to declare 
the purpose, to disclaim any intention of exercising permanent 
sovereignty and declare that purpose niow. And I am re- 
minded that Senator Beveridgc hurled at us from Minneapolis 
this crushing denunciation: "Men said vesterday, let us do 
with the Filipinos as we have done with the Cubans. What 
man says that today?" Senator Beveridge said this in the same 
s]>eech in which he made' his fire-eating, land-grabbing declara- 
tion as to our duty at once to annex Cuba. But on the other 
Imiid Mr. Eoosevelt sent Secretary Taft there and upon arrival 
we behold him making that magnificent statement with regard 
to the hopes of the Cuban people: "I have come, not to de- 
stroy, but to fulfil." The only two occasions in recorded his- 
tory where any nation has ever applied the code of private 
inoralitv to its international law were, first when by direction 

6 



nl ilic Prc.Hilriit. (Icii. W.kmI |i;iiiI((| dnwii :iL llavaiui tlu' llag 
wliicli hcaiid Ml-. Iui(i>cvrli li;i(l pill up; t lie socoiid, wlien Gov. 
'I;il! >i'i<l ill I lie iiaiiic :iii(l hy tin- aullioiitv i)f tliat same Presi- 
«l''i"l: '"We arc iiitcrvoiiiiii;- to a-sist aiid iidt to appropriate," 
It was I lie most splendid victorv that lia> ever occiirrt'd in this 
great (.'oiitc-t (d' true patiiotisiii auaiiK^-l jingoism; alias IJcvcr- 
idgoisin. 

There is another thing whieh i- an e>seiitial (dniicnt (d' the 
situation. Some genth'man has said that the nuiin tnjuble in 
getting out of the rhilippiiies was tliat we must "save our face." 
'J'lie man who l)rouglit the Jaiianese-Kussian War to a chjse can, 
in a few montlisget up a neutrali/ation treaty with all the great 
powers, whereby the future status of the riiilippine Islands 
shall he the same as that of Switzerland or Jjelgium today..^ 

Tile Taft C\ininiission eanie oui to undertake the same futile 
task that the Schnrnnm Commission undertook. (Jov. Taft 
was not then a judge. However eminent, able and ju?t a judge 
he may have been while on the Circuit Bench, lie was a loyal 
partisan of the Re])ubliean Party, anxious to see it continued 
in power. The presidential election was coming on in the fall 
following. Xews from the Philippines was bad. The situa- 
tion was not as well in hand as Cen. Otis would have had you 
'oelieve. 0])timistic news was needed and Judge Taft did not 
(lisa])poiut his friends at home. The Civil ('ommission had not 
been there more than sixty days hidore they sent this telegram: 
"A great majority of the people long for peace and are entirely 
willing to accept the establishment of a government under the 
supreniacv of the United States." (Jen. MacArthur, of course, 
learned their views after divers conferences with them, and 
modestlv thought that, having been on the ground from the be- 
iiinning, he ought to know more about the temper of the people 
than ;inv five gentlemen, however eminient, who had just come 
out. Ihit the Commission had ]iaramonnt authority from the 
President; (Jen. MacArthni- was a soldier; he must yield to 
the unwise inevitable and let them set up their civil government 
whenever they so desireil, but he could not hel]) taking a parting 
shot at their theory. Tie said substantially that, aside from all 
other considerations, the unanimity of this people seems to be 
due to the curious reason that in mattei*s of war or politics, people 
ge-niprallv think they are never neai-er right than when they 
stick to their own kith and kin and that the trmdde wa> ''etlino- 
log-ical homogeniety which appeals for a time to consanguinious 



leadership!" Civil government of the provinces was set up be- 
I'ore the insurrection was ever put down. Every officer- of the 
United States Army who was there, knows that. It was put 
up as a political necessity. It was put up for the same reason 
that Uncle liemus made his rabbit climb the tree. You recol- 
lect the little boy to whom he used to tell these stories. In the 
one alluded to the rabbit had climbed a tree to escape the dog 
and thereby placed himself in a position of safety. The little 
boy reluctantly interrupts: "But, Uncle Ilemus, a rabbit can't 
climb a tree!" Uncle Remus promptly replied to the little boy 
substantially what Gov. Taft may be imagined to have said to 
Gen. MacArthur: "Oh, but, honey, dis rabbbit des bleeged ter 
climb dis tree.'' The Kepublican party was "des bleeged ter 
climb'' the tree of Civil GJovernment. The civil government 
was set up, believing that public order would adjust itself. As 
a corollary to that the constabulary force was organized, the 
authorities believing that they could hold the situation down. 
I don't believe the best friend of Col. Baker would claim that 
his constabulary outfit had held the situation down. The con- 
stabulary has practiced reconcentration in a crude and defec- 
tive manner. Gen. Bell was severely criticized on the floor of 
the United States Senate for his reconceiutration in the Province 
of Batan^'as. I have been told in the last day or two by a 
newspaper man who was there that Gen. Bell fed the recon- 
centrados and that none of them died of starvation. The hand- 
ling of large bodies of men and women is a thing that the 
regular army can do very successfully, but this is not so where 
reconcentration is practiced by the conetabulary and ci^dlians. 
Beeoncentration under the military is one thing and reconcen- 
tration to be handled by unskilled people is another. This re- 
concentration law provides and recites that when it is not pos- 
sible for the available police force constantly to provide protec- 
tion for all the people, then reconcentration may be authorized. 
Think of such a recital in an American statute, when Mr. Mc- 
Ivinley's letter to the Commission said: "I charge this com- 
mission to protect all of the people of the Philippine Islands 
all the time because it concerns the honor and conscience of 
their country." Where the band of brigands is operating 
through a wide section and the constabulary cannot handle the 
situation any other way, then the provincial governor issues an 
order substantially to this effect: "Before a certain day you 
must come within a radius of say two or three miles of the town 

8 



coniUKjn and tlicro remain until furtlier orders." Tliousands of 
j)eoplL' must come within the rcconcentration zone in ••rdc-r that 
pei"SOns founil (»utsi<U' thereafter mav he [trupcrlv tr('at"d as pub- 
lic enemies and dealt with as such. It does not take a lawyer 
to see that where you i>o into tiic rural districts and gather in 
the farmci' and tell him to come to town carrying wife, chil- 
dren, bag and baggagi', with no provision whatever for the work- 
ing of his crop iluring his absence, he is being deprived of his 
projK'rtv without duv process of law. When he is dumped 
down on the town common and told to remain there it (htes not 
take a lawyer to see that he is being deprived of his liberty 
without due process of law. And yet the act of Congress 
known as the Philii)pine (Jovernnu'nt ISill of 15)02, provided 
that no man in the I'liilippines eau be dejH'ived of life, liberty 
or jjrojHTty without due process of law. Xow the coustabidary 
and the handling of these people by the constabulary under the 
reconcentrationi law is a direct corollary of the fundamental 
mistake that the administration made in the Philippines, name- 
ly, the excessively optimistic belief that those jx'ople are or 
ever will be satisfied with something less than independence. 
It is the most pathetic fact in the whole situation, the general 
yearning of all the people of the Philippine Islands for a 
national life of their own. 

T have been requested by friends to ileal more with the auto- 
biographical aspect of the situation, but have been so earnestly 
set upon demonstrating to the voters of the country the essen- 
tials of the problem as to have, neglected what you might call 
"in lighter vein." I was holding court once in the Province 
of Albay, where this reconcentrati<.n business had coralled tens 
of thousands of people. Prof. Willis says 300,000 in his 
book. I don't know just how many, but a very great number 
of people. It was a gravely troublesom*^ insurrection. An 
insurrection is called an insurrection colloquially in the Philip- 
])ines, but never in the cablegrams. The Philippine Govern- 
ment Bill provides that the writ of habeas corpus may be sus- 
pended where public safety requires it. In order to sus]ieiul 
this writ you have got to call a spade a spade, an insurrection 
an insurrection, which the Philippine government does not like 
to do and will under no circumstances do on the eve of a presi- 
dential election. The insurrecti<m to which I have referred 
was in progress in Albay from 1902 to 1003, one year. There 
were at times as many as 1,500 meii in the field on each side 



and this is the first time you ever heard of it. Yet civil gov- 
emiment kept up and the writ of habeas corpus was not sus- 
pended. Under those circumstances, where the Judge of the 
Circuit earnestly and loyally holds up the civil government, 
amid the good humored jests of military friends, who insist you 
will have to turn the situation over to them sooner or later, and 
the people are crowded into jails by hundreds and the writ of 
habeas corpus is not suspended, the J udge becomes a sort of writ 
of habeas corpus incarnate. He must sort the sheep from the 
goats and either turn loose or convict as quickly as practicable, 
lest people awaiting trial die before he can get to them. I have 
the honor, if you will pardon a personal allusion, to have from 
the bar of my district a recommendation for the Supreme Bench 
which recites that the particular person whose interests they are 
presenting, has presided in three different provinces v/here in- 
surrections were going on. In the Philippines we call a spade 
a spade. In the Philippines the inventor of phrases has done 
some very ingenious things. Those who are familiar with the 
management of the interior economy of the army know that 
certain things are classified as expendable and unexpendable, 
and when you are relieved from an army post by your successor 
you do not have to account for expendable property such as 
pencils, pa]#er, etc., etc., but only for shovels, picks, etc., etc., 
which are in the unexpendable class and have always to be ac- 
counted for. It has become the practice in the Philippines now, 
when, the constabulary goes on an expedition for the newspapers 
in Manila quietly and demurely and without any excitement 
to tell vou how many Pulahanes the recent expedition ''ex- 
pended." 

The Albay insurrection was headed by a man named Ola. 
The Filipinos are a very affectionate people, kindly, considerate, 
thoughtful. Ola was the head of the inisnrrection. He was 
finally induced to surrender and come in. He was sentenced to 
thirty vears in the penitentiary, but having been of great 
service to the government in identifying his former followers 
and in the matter of state's evidence, when the ship was sent 
to carry the prisoners to Manila, Ola was not chained.^ And 
therefore you will understand the fact that there was an entente 
cordiale between us. During the night the stateroom grew too 
warm and I left it and went back to sleep in the back part of 
the ship near the stern steeling gear. During the niglit I 
awoke, and just how I don't know, but it came to my conscious- 

10 



ncss that tlinc was a head on tlic otlici- side ol" the |iill(i\v, ami 
1 Idiikctl, and lo and Ixlmld ihcrc \\a- tlic liandit <diiil', niv 
friend Ola! I said: "W'Jiut. an- voii doin^- liiTfT' and lie iiii- 
nicdiatclv jumped up and went away. 1 reeulleet cuniin^- fmin 
time to time to semi-cimseidusness, oidy ti> see tliat Olii was 
paeinu u|t and dowm the (h'(d<. lie wa> e\iiiently a si-ntinel fnr 
inc. Toward luorniiii;- the ennstahiihiiv mKii'<l _muirdin«i- liiiii 
heiiun to tdiatter. Ola \\a~ a man wh(» had commanded men, 
and he iiroi'ceded at oiu-e to take ehai'_i;c o his uuard and order 
them t(» keep tpiiet, as the judiie was slec _ .Uiil Ola has since 
been pardoned. 

I must not ^ay i>()od-hye to you witiiout cleariiiii uj) one mi-- 
apprehension, btx'ause 1 am willini; to uive the <le\ii hi- ilm'. 
1 liave a letter rocoived reeently iVom one >>( the mo-t eminent 
members of the bar of yt)ur city in whitdi he asks a very 
]X'rsonnl (jnestion. "It has been alleged that the commission has 
tried to influence the courts. T do not know whethei- this is 
ti'ue. but if you can tlirow any liuht on it the re|)ly will be 
welcomed." I can say that the lawyers who have charu'e of 
the l'hili|)pine government have ne\-er been uuilty of any un- 
professional conduct. However, the one thini: which we are 
all, without one dissenting voice, agiee<l uji(»n, is that the 
circuit iudges ini the Philii)])ines shoidd be commissioned by 
the President of the United States and not by The local govern- 
ment. The attorney-general of the Philippine Pland- and the 
Secretarv of War, and the most enthusiastic sui)]ioiter i>i Mr. 
Bryau', all agive on tliat proposition. 

I must close with one further remark. Without putting 
myself upon the witness stand you can readily see that if you 
bring toii'ethei- liumli'eds and thousands of ]ieople under the re- 
cou'-eiitrationi law, liei-ding together the ignorant ]>ea^ant, and 
his wife, still more ignorant ami more liel]de.ss, and his children, 
born and to be borni, and his old people tottering toward tlie 
latter end, some of them are going to die of exj)osure, bad sani- 
tation or lnuigcr, beloiT the perioil of reconcentration ends. 

And, seeing that the contstabulary reconcentration law, and 
other errors have caused in the Philippines much absolutely un- 
necessary sacrifice of life, I cannot but repeat now what Senator 
Hoar said in his la-t pathetic public protest on the floor of the 
Senate: "We have got niothing but honor out of Cuba. We 
have got nothing of honor out of the Philippines.'' 

11 



MR. STOREY. 

Mr. Blount has said that one who has been in the PJiilippines 
for a nnniber of years is so full of his subject that you only 
have to tap liim and he will runi. It occurs to me that some of 
the members here might like to ask some questions, 

REV. J. L. TRYOl^. 

I cannot quite understand the motive of these brigands, I 
think the most of us in this country, when we are told of the 
constabulary or army officers having to suppress brigandage, are 
disinclined to sympathize with the immediate freedom of the 
Philippines, — the fear being that as outlaws we cannot depend 
upon them. You speak of them as being embers of the fire 
of civil war, I think it might help me and others if you would 
ex])]aini iust what you mean by that, . 

JUDGE BLOUNT, 

I can reply to that and tell you what the sheriff of my court 
in Samar said. He was not as active as he might have been 
in pursuing the brigands who w^ere out in the hills, because his 
favorite ex])ression with reference to them was (not to us 
Americans, but when he supposed it would not reach cur ears) : 
"I don't think it my duty to persecute my brethren in the 
liills," They had served under him in the war. The feeling 
of l)rotlierhood between the sheriff of the court and the 
brigands was strong. 

MR, TRYOK. 

Did they prey upon their owni people and try to make them 
come round to their views of "independence?" Is that some- 
thing like the strikers? 

JUDGE BLOUISTT. 

I woidd not for a moment have you to understand me that 
there are not brigands pure and simple in the Philippines, be- 
cause there are, but to say that the brigandage in the Philip- 
pines does not to a large extent represent the embers of the 
late war is to totally misrepresent the key to the situation. The 

12 



iiisiirrcc'tidii for iiistniioo in Saiiiar ri'iiicsciiicd (lis('(.iitcnt with 
the t;i\ unllu'icr aiul iisiuvr and a doirc in S4»ni(' fecl»K' inartic- 
nlatc wav to manifest tlir .-nllcn dcptli- <»t" their discontent 
with Auieriean nde. The inlelli^cnl njen, the had(;> of the 
people have rceogni/ed the futility of lighting- long ago and 
come in, — Agninaldo an<l others, — hut many iiave lu'ver re- 
turned to the. paths of ])eaee. This very insiureetion in Sainar 
J was able to get to the bottom of, and I found that the 
nucleus of it was a band of 1(MI men who had come from the 
Island of Jiiliran under the leadership (»f an ex-soldier, and it 
was still going oni in 11)04 and on through HH),"). Tin- nueleus 
of that brigand outbreak was the KM) men who had been in the 
late war. It is not therefore fair to characterize brigan<lage as 
entirely non-political, because if you tell the sheriff of the court 
of Sanuir to tell his people that on ^uch ami such a date in the 
future the American Ciovennnent, having already disclaimed 
sovereignty, they are to be free and independent, that those of 
lh(>m having a reasonable expectancy of life may hope to sec 
the independence of their country, the brigandage in Sanuir will 
stop. 

PROF. H. B. SriiACiUE. 

I should like to ask if this reconcentratioti jxiHcy is now 
operative in the Islands^ 

JUDGE BLOUXT. 

Tn o]ieration and a ]iait of the statute hiw id' the Kind. 
PEOF. SPEAGUE. 

Can anv fair estimate be nnide of the nundxr of live- lost or 

death.s caiiseil by this^ 

JUDGE BLOUNT. 

My friend (ien. Allen reports that he killeil l.i'DT last year. 

ME. STOIIKV. 

Tou Avill remember tliat during the l>oer War there was 
much talk in England against the policy of reconcentration in 

13 



South Africa. There was issued each month a "blue book" 
giving an excellent record of the whole number of people re- 
concentrated and the absolute loss of life in every camp. This 
"blue book" stated what private propertv had beeu destroyed, 
oni what date, by whom and for what reason., down to fences, 
down to bales of hay, and other things of that sort., so that the 
English public were always advised of what was being done in 
their name in South Africa. I wrote a letter to the Insular De- 
partment asking information upon this matter in the Philip- 
pines and received in a day or two a reply stating that my letter 
had been referred to the Civil Commission, for inquiry and re- 
port. I observed in the newspapers that the editors of the 
Manila "El Ecnacimiento" had been prosecuted for libel in 
making publication of some correspondence concerning the de- 
tails of reconcentration soon after. That seemed to be the 
action which the Commission took upon my inquiry. The 
prosecution was pursued ii^ the criminal courts and resulted in 
the acquittal of the editors. Emboldened by that, I again ad- 
dressed the Insular Department and called their attention to the 
fact that I had received no reply to my letter. I was then 
advised that such reports as were available would be found in 
their annual publications, and they sent me a set. Then I 
called their attentioni to the fact that these "blue books" had 
beeni published in England, and I wanted to know if anywhere 
there were any statistics which would show how many camps 
there had been, how many people had been exposed to that 
practice, and how many had perished under it, as I found that 
there were no such records in these reports. I am unanswered. 
We are left to guess what the probable results must be of 
taking something like 300,000 people away, herding them in 
camps and leaving them to live or die. At the annual meeting 
of the League I shall be inclined to lay before you that cor- 
respondence so that you luay see for yourself what the state of 
affairs is. 

PROE. WILLIAM JAMES. 

( 'an vou tell us whether there is any reconcentration actually 
being ai)p]ied now in the Philippines? 

JUDGE BLOUNT. 

Tliere has not been reconcentration under the Constabulary 

14 



to iiii.v cNtciit ('.\rc])t ill All.nv in I'.io;; mul in S;iiii;ir in 1:m)|, 
'I'l'l ill ('avitf, near .Mniiila, in IIMI."). 'I'liai is tn sav this un- 
sport.-Mianiikc rcroMc-cnl latinn nt niv Iricnd llakcr. 'I'lic ix- 
t'oiuMMif ration of CJcii. iJcll in liatan^as was innlcr the military 



!M) 



-Mr. Storey called npon .Mr. William Lloyd (JarriMin. 
Mil. Wli.LIA.M LLOVI) (..VKKISOWS KlvM .\ KKS. 

We have listened to themature(| opininns <d' nur uucm, Jnch'-e 
iJlonni, of (Jcorjiia, rosultiiii;- from h»iig experience in the 
Pliili})i)ines. They reHeet the sober second thon<>liT now 
pitherinii- liead throui-liont the lan<l. 'Idie ]in.pheeie.s of the 
t^outhsavers liave i)een falsified and the glamour of war has 
passed while its i;hastliness remains. Voice.-* of >hame and 
humiliation multiply where recent protests apiinst imperialism 
were deemed the utterances of treason. Commercial los.-? and 
tlie foi-feiture of self-respect indicate that the day of sackcloth 
and a.~hes is app.T<)aching. 

The conscious effort to forget, if not to atone for the nation's 
criminal agiiression. is suddenly jarred by the Bourbon tones of 
J)r. Lyman Abbott. From the seclu>ion of Lak(! ]\Iohonk come 
these assertive Avords, befitting a mind beyond tlie power to 
forget or leani: 

"I believe the ])roudest cha])ter in our history is that written 
by the statesinan.ship of McKinley, the gnns of I)ew(y, and the 
administration of Taft. There is nothinu- to repent, nothing to 
retract; our duty is to go on and com]ilete the work already so 
well beiiun. 1 do not defend or apologize f(»r what we have 
done in the Philip])ines. I glory in it. ^Vr nnnt give tliem a 
government, not for our benefit, but primarily tor the benefit 
of the Filii)inos." 

The proudest (dia])ter in our lii^toryl Ten years ago the 
cha])ter that included the ennincipation of four million slaves 
held that distinction. The (diajiter viewed with ])rid.> by Dr. 
Abbott in(dudes the betrayal id' trusting allies, the annihilation 
of half a million of pi'ople struggling for inch'piMidc iice, the 
re]nidiation of Ann'i'ican ideab, the nion-tmus in<'rease of arma- 
ments and the asi5um]>tioii ,,( dojiotie power by the President. 
From the atmosphere of Lincidn we have sunk fo thi-, ami tlie 
glib phrases coined by empire makers have debased tlie cur- 

15 



rency of speech in the United States. In tliis accomplishment 
the successor of Henry Ward Beecher now "glories.'' And it 
is easier to glory in than to defend or a])ologize for a chapter 
of disgrace. Who doubts that this apostate era will bear the 
stamp of inglorious when its true historian an-ives? 

With the revised judgment of events will follow a new esti- 
mate of re]mtations. It will be truthfully written that an un- 
principled plutocrat with shameless daily presses stirred to the 
depths the depraved element of the country — perhaps the most 
powerful influence that forced the war with Spain. It can 
be said with -equal truth that the editor of the "Outlook," a 
preacher of the gospel of peace, the ethical favorite fif philan- 
thropic convocations and college pulpits, after the event, 
exercised even a greater power, — drugging the public con- 
science and with pious sophistry demoralizing the great con- 
stituency which takee its religion and politics from his fluent 
and machiavelian pen. Into how many households has this 
weekly perversion of principles found its way, confusing issues, 
weakenino- moral standards and cultivating that bourgeois com- 
placeucv which stands behind the heathen war-cry, "Our 
country right or wrong!" 

In comparison with Dr. Abbott and his like appear the ex- 
ecutioners who, when the conflict was precipitated, led in the 
slaughter of the victims. But Bell and Funston and Wood 
simply followed their professional calling. 

"Theii^s not to make reply. 
Theirs not to reason why," 
and, from the standpoint of legalized nnuTler, they were 
in the line of duty. They made no altruistic pretences, were 
end^arrassed bv no scruples of abstract justice or fear of in- 
fringing constitutional safeguards. They stand in the category 
of Thackeray's "red coat bully in- his boots who hides the 
march of men from us." By their own yardstick they have a 
right to claim measurement. 

But a difFerent^ method of judgment isi reserved for the 
teacher of ethics. The moral law is unswerving, and by its 
verdict, thouch titles of divinity adorn his name, the offender 
must, in the last analysis, abide. 

The prototypes of Dr. Abbott are prominent in! every past 
struggle for human rights. They included men of learning 
and position, model husbands and fathers, and of lovely neigh- 
borhood repute. Yet, without them and their influence tyranny 

16 



woiilil li;i\(' Inckctl its iicccssiirv (Icfciicc ami slirltcr. Tlic pujxi- 
larity uf their ilay luis' tunu'd to cciisiirc or pity iiiKk-r tin- 
traii^foniiin^- toiu'h of the impartial historian. 'I'lit-ir own 
postcritv is careful to forget the unsavorv ('i)iso(i('.s wliich make 
ancestralnames so tryingly persistent. 

If the desire of l)r, Abbott to <;iv(' the Filipin<is a govern- 
ment for their own benefit i)e lield to modify his endorsement 
of our calamitous career in their devastated island-, the wish is 
a belated one. It was in orde^* before the hnndre<ls of thou.-ands 
now in araves because of our fateful coming were beyond the 
reach of j)atronizing benevolence. 

"Spirit of Kant! have we not had enough 
To make Religion sad and sour and snubbish,'' 
without further theological attempts to hide the naketlni'ss 
of im])eria]i8m under the garmenti> of Christianity^ 

In a similar period of national debasement, when loyalty to 
truth demanded disloyalty to ruling power?', Wendell l^hillips 
rejoiced in being ''infidel to a church that could be at peace in 
the presence of sin; traitor to a government that was a magnifi- 
cent conspiracy against justice." It was a noble expression of 
divine faith. And in this season of spiritual drought, the faith- 
lessness in organized church and state, renuMubering the swift 
reversal of verdict that followed the triumph of the anti- 
slavery cause, the opponents of present established wrongs can 
confidently await "the safe appeal of truth to time." 

ME. STOREY. 

I should like to add that (Jen. Funston and (len. Ucll wen; 
soldiers in the army of the T^ndted States. They ol^yed the 
orders of their commander-in-chief and are excused. IV. 
Abbott i-> an officer in the army of Christ. Has he obeyed the 
orders of his coinniandci'-in-chirf, ami can h(^ be excused^ 

We shall be glad to hear from any other gentleman present 
who would like to say something. If not, T would sugirest that 
the attendance of all is desired at our annual meeting wliicdi 
takes place in five or six weeks. 

The meetiiui" was dissolved. 



17 



you J re lUirndit/y disked to hand this, 
after reading, to some other person -^'ho 
icill also fiive it earejitl consideration. 



PROCEEDINGS 

FOLLOWING THE LUNCHEON " 
GIVEN BV THE 

Anti-Imperialist League 

MONDAY. OCTOBER 22 

AT THE ROOMS OF THE TWENTIETH 
CENTURY CLUB 

TO 

Hon. James H. Blount 



ITHI.ISHED BY 

THE ANTI-IMPKRIALIST LEAGUE 

20 CENTRAI. STREKT. BOSTON 






1 



PROCEEDINGS 

}>\\\ Mddrt'u'ltl St()i(\v cnllcd the iiicctini;- to order. 

.MK. MOOKI'IKIJ) STOKKY'S UKMAKKS 

Ladies and (Iciitleint'ii of the Anti-Imperialist League : It is 
verv pleasant to meet yon here in sneli <;'oodl_v numbers as wo 
beii;in a new annual eami)aiiin of active agitation in favor of 
Filipino indepeniK'nee. On this occasion we are here to ])ro- 
vide ourselves with fresh ammunition. From yo\ir exjKM-ience 
wth mc you know that on most occasions I am not averse to 
spcakinji', but on this occasion, I am here to listen. T Ixdieve 
that there are two serious vices into which a presiding officer 
may readily fall. One is to introduce the speaker of the even- 
ing in a speech of j-uch length as more or less to take away the 
freshness, of the speaker's ammunition and the other is to talk 
about it from an entirely erroneous standjxiint, so that the 
speaker is obliged to spend his time in correcting the mistate- 
ments that may have been made; so I shall content myself with 
introducing to you Judge Blount. 

,iri)(iK r,L()rxrs speech. 

It is a matter of very great concern to me that I shall say 
nothing in this country that I shall be ashamed for my friends 
in the Philip])iiies to hear. When you have serve<l beyond the 
seas for ^ix or seven years you have grown close to the people 
over there. ''I have eaten their bread and salt. The deaths 
that thev died I have watched beside and the lives that they 
led were mine." Therefore, T have determined that I sln\ll 
siiy nothing except in a s]>irit of judicial fairness about the situa- 
tion there. I am an Anti-Imperialist for the reason that "I do 
not know the method of drawing an indictment agains^ a whole 
peo]>le." To l)e specific, in the fall of 1!)04, during the presi- 
dential cami)aign in the United States, there was an insurrec- 
tion going on in the Island of Samar. Fifty thousand people 



had been made homeless by the operations of a band of brigands, 
as testified before my court by an officer of the constabulary of 
that province. The brigandage law is- an outgrowth fii-st of 
the seditiion law and, with all due respect to the Secretary of 
War, it is absolutely an untenable position to say that there is 
no political significance to the brigandage now going on in those 
islands. It is simply to deny the proposition that post-bellum 
brigandage always represents the embers of a late war. Now 
if the Secretary can prove that to you, he can do more than any 
public man that I know of in the world. In what I shall say 
I shall try to be fair; and before going further, permit me to 
say that I was very much pained to find that one of your Bos- 
ton papers had not correctly quoted me in what I said last Sat- 
urday at the luncheon of the 20th Century Club, and I owe it 
to myself and to the friends I have served with in the Philip- 
pines to correct this mistatement; and I have written to the 
editor of the Boston Post a letter which I have not seen yet. 
(The letter appeared next day.) It is as follows: 
To the Editor of the "Post":' 

Dear Sir: In your report this morning of my speech at the 
20th Century Club you have re])resented me as saying that Sec- 
retary Taft deceived the Filipino people. I did not say that. 
I *aid that Siecretary Taft failed to undeceive the Filipino peo- 
ple. I have never said anything in any public utterance in this 
country inconsistent with what Mr. Bryan said at Manila, that 
the intentions of the administration were good. I am not an 
incendiary. I think that this question ought to be settled 
among our public men. Mr. Taft believes that the Filipinos 
should be held in tutelage indefinitely. Mr. Bryan believes 
that thev should be allowed to pursue happiness in their own 
way. This is the issue. 

I came home from the Philippines with the regrets of that 
government, and, further, with an endorsement by the Gover- 
nor-General of my fitness, from what he had seen of my adminis- 
tration, for the position of United States District Judge in my 
own State, in event of Judge Speer's promotion to the Circuit 
bench. 

'^^.^tludge Taft is too valuable a man for the disciples of Thomas 
Jefferson to attack him in the wrong way. I should be very 
proud to have Judge Taft as a guest in my own home. I have 
never said that he deceived the Filipinos. I have only said 
that he failed to undeceive them as to their hopes for ultimate 



iii<lc|)cii(lciicc. licM out liv Sccrcl:irv Koot ;it flic Ilcjiubliean 
Xiitimial ( 'oiixciitidii i)\' I!M) \, 

W'vy i'('<|icct t'lillv, 

JaiiR's 11. iJidiinl. 
I!.i-t(.ii, ()(•((. l.cr lM, 1906. 

'J'lie situation in the Pliilipjjiiics is very dillicult to i>i-('sont in 
a short limit nf lime. As (Jov. Taft said to the Senate Coni- 
niittco in Fchniarv, 1!M)2: "When a man has been out there 
two years an<l beeonie saturatecl with the snhjeot; anvAvherc you 
lap him he runs." The cential thnunlit 1 wnuhl lodge with 
yon is tliis: It has been a game of battle-door and shuttle-eoek 
in which selfish interests at home and ])olitieal eonsiderations 
inherent in our form of government have worked to the detri- 
ni(>nit of the Filipino pe<->ple. The Filipinos saw in the Peace 
Protocd] of August 12, 1808, a cloud on the horizon no larger 
than a man's hand. There was a string tied to the Philippines. 
Put T shall hurry on to the present as (pu'ckly as is consistent 
with charness. Between the P>attle of Marala Bav and the 
Peace Protocol was "the era of good feeling." It was then 
possible for American-^ to see that the Fili])inos were capable of 
running a govci'iimoiit of their own. They hailed us as de- 
liverers. Adniiiral Dewey cabled the government that they 
were more ca])able of self-government than the Cnban?. Then 
later came the (dash of arms because evidently then it was a 
(juestion simply of a change of masters. The Schurman Com- 
mission came out with the olive branch and got there too late. 
If, day after day. and in night attacks too, you are "up against" 
a ])eo]->le who fiuht game and die game ami dying cry: "Viva 
la Tvepublica Fili]uu.a!" you have no doubt that they know 
what thev want. Tt is im]iossible to convince the Secietary of 
"War of that. Tie has never grasped the fundamental fact of 
the situation that those ])eople will never be content with sonic- 
thinu less than inde]ieudence. The general yearning for a 
national life f)f their (»wn is the most tremendous fact in the 
situation. Tn four years on the bench in the Philijipines, T 
have heard a- mucdi elo(]uent argument and seen cases as well 
]ue])ared bv members of the Filipino Bar as a circuit judge in 
this country would in the same length of time. Each of those 
lawyers has a wide clr(de of (dieuts. Tn many cases tho-o law- 
yers were colonels or gen(M"als or other officers in the insurgent 
army. The great inarticulate mass-'s of the people look to 



them for their opinions and advice. They say: "We know 
you, we trust you, we have fought under you. You tell us 
that the intentions of the American Government toward us are 
good. What are those intentions? Oaii' you tell us?" ISTo, 
the lawyer cannot tell them, because the American Government 
hae never declared its intentions. If he was in a position to 
tell them it would be different. He cannot control their agita- 
tion. He is a power among them, and could incite them to re- 
volt, but he cannot keep down manifestations of discontent. 
This is the true theory upon which to account for a large part 
of this post bellum brigandage representing, as I say, the embers 
of a late war. But once the representative lawyer of a com- 
munity should tell his clients what the intentions of this gov- 
ernment are; ipso/acto, most of the unrest in the Philippines 
will at once stop, / In the public press an account of a letter of 
Secretary Taft tc5 the Bishop of Massachusetts was gi-.'en which 
replied to the question: ''Why not make a declaration of our 
purpose now?" substantially thus: "The gentlemen who are now 
agitating- for independence, if you made such a declaration, 
would agitate a good deal more actively than ever with a view 
of hastening the day." The reply of Mr. Bryan's friends to 
that lis this: "Fix the date!" In other words, if you say to 
this wide circle of Filipinos referred to: "You may hope to 
live to see the independence of your country," that will be suf- 
ficient. I would not undertake to fix the time. We liave had 
it all the way from Mr. Bryan's five or ten or fifteen years to 
Senator Xewland's and Senator Dubois's thirty years-. But the 
main question is to fix a date. The main thing is to declare 
the purpose, to disclaim any intention of exercising permanent 
sovereignty and declare that purpose niow. And I am re- 
minded that Senator Beveridge hurled at us from Minneapolis 
this crushing denunciation: "Men said vesterday, let us do 
with the Filipinos as we ha\'e done with the Cubans. What 
man says that today?" Senator Beveridge said this in the same 
s]:)eech in which heniade his fire-eating, land-grabbing declara- 
tion as to our duty at once to annex Cuba. But on the other 
hand Mr. Roosevelt sent Secretary Taft there and upon arrival 
we behold him making that magnificent statement with regard 
to the hopes of the Cuban people: "I have come, not to de- 
stroy, but to fulfil." The only two occasions in recorded his- 
tory Avhere any nation has ever applied the code of private 
moralitv to its international law were, first when bv direction 



of the J'rosi(l(>iit, don. Wood IuuiIchI down at IlavaiKi tlic flag 
wliicli lie and Mr. Koosevclt liad \n\t up; tin- sccund, wlicn (Jov. 
'iaft .-idd in tlio name and by tlic aiilliinity <>{' that .-anic \'vv-[- 
dcnt: "We arc intcrvi'iiino- to a-sist ami not to apin-opriatc." 
It was the nio>t splendid victorv that ha.> ever oci-nrrcd in this 
great contest of true patriotisui against jingoism; alias liever- 
idgeiein. ^ 

There is another thing which i- an essential element of the 
situation. Sonic gentleman has said that the nuun trouble in 
getting out of the Philippines was that we must "save our face." 
The man avIio brought the Japanese-Russian War to a close can, 
in a few months get up a neutralization treaty with all the great 
powers, whereby the futnre status of the Philii)pine Lslands 
>hall be the same as that of Switzerland or Pelgium today. / 

The Taft Commission came out to undertake the same futile 
task that tlie Sclinrmaii ( 'ommi-sioii undertook. (iov. Taft 
was not then a judge. However eminent, able and jiu-t a judge 
he nuiy have been while on the Circuit Bench, he was a loyal 
]^artisan of the Republican Party, anxions to see it continued 
in power. The presidential el(>ction was coming on in the fall 
following. Xews from the Philippines was bad. The situa- 
tion was not as well in hand as (Jen. Otis would have had you 
'oclieve. ()])timistic news was needed and Judge Taft did not 
di^apl)oiilt his friends at home. The Ci"\dl Commission had not 
been there more than sixty days before they sent this telegram: 
•'A great majority of the people long for peace and are entirely 
willing to accept the establishment of a government under the 
sui)remacv of the T'nited States." Gen. MacArthnr, of course, 
learned their views after divers conferences with them, and 
modestlv thought that, having been on the ground from the be- 
>ii lining, he ought to know more abont the temper of the people 
than anv five gentlemen, however eminient, who had just come 
cut. ViUt the Commission had ]"»aramount authority from the 
President; Gen. MacArthur was a soldier; he must yield to 
the unwise inevitable and let them set up their civil government 
whenever they so desired, but he coidd not help taking a parting 
.shot at their theory. He said substantially that, aside from all 
other considerations, the unanimity of this people seems to be 
due to the curious reason that in mattei-s of war or politics, peojde 
genierallv tliink they are never nearer right than when they 
stick to their own kith and kin and that the trouble wa> "ethno- 
logical liomogeniety wliitdi niijieals for a time to consanguinious 



leadership!" Civil government of the provinces was set up be- 
fore the insurrection was ever put down. Every officer of the 
United States Army who was there, knows that. It was put 
up as a political necessity. It was put up for the same reason 
that Uncle Eemus made his rabbit climb the tree. You recol- 
lect the little boy to whom he used to tell these stories. In the 
one alluded to the rabbit had climbed a tree to escape the dog 
and thereby placed himself in a position of safety. The little 
boy reluctantly interrupts: ''But, Uncle Eemus., a rabbit can't 
climb a tree!" Uncle Eemus promptly replied to the little boy 
substantially what Gov. Taft may be imagined to have said to 
Gen. MacArthur: "Oh, but, honey, dis rabbbit des bleeged ter 
climb dis tree." The Eepublican party was "des bleeged ter 
climb" the tree of Civil Government. The civil government 
was set up, believing that public order would adjust itself. As 
a corollary to that the constabulary force was organized, the 
authorities- believing that they could hold the situation down. 
1 don't believe the best friend of Col. Baker would islaim that 
his constabulary outfit had held the situation down. The con- 
stabulary has practiced reconcentration in a crude and defec- 
tive manner. (^en. Bell was severely criticized on the floor of 
the United States Senate for his reconcentration in the Province 
of Batangas. I have been told in the last day or two by a 
newspaper man who was there that Gen. Bell fed the recon- 
centrados and that none of them died of starvation. The hand- 
ling of large bodies of men and women is a thing that the 
regular army can do very successfully, but this is not so where 
reconcentration is practiced by the coni-tabulary and civilians. 
Eeconcentration under the military is one thing and reconcen- 
tration to be handled by unskilled people is another. This re- 
concentration law provides and recites that when it is not pos- 
sible for the available police force constantly to provide protec- 
tion for all the people, then reconcentration may be authorized. 
Think of such a recital in an American statute, when Mr. Mc- 
Kinley's letter to the Commission said: "I charge this com- 
mission to protect all of the people of the Philippine Islands 
all the time because it concerns the honor and conscience of 
their country." Where the band of brigands is operating 
through a wide section and the constabulary cannot handle the 
situation any other way, then the provincial governor issues an 
order substantially to this effect: "Before a certain day you 
must come within a radius of say two or three miles of the town 

8 



coiiunon and there rcinain until iurther orderti.'' 'J'li<ni>an(ls of 
people must come within the recoiicentration zone in (mlcr that 
])ei'si)ii.s found outside tlicreat'tcr niii\- hr jjiopcrly treat^'d as j)ul»- 
lic enemies and dealt with as sutdi. It dcjes not take a lawyer 
to se'e that wlu-re you go into the rural distriets and gather in 
the farmer and tell him to come to town carrying wife, chil- 
dren, bag and baggage, witli no provision whatever for the work- 
ing of his crop during his absence, he is being deprivetl of his 
proiK?rty without due process of law, AVhen he i< dumped 
down on the town common and told to remain there it does not 
take a lawyer to see that he is being deprived of his liberty 
without due process of law. And yet the act of Congress 
known as the Philippine Government J>ill of 1!>02, provided 
that no man in the Philippines can be deprived of life, liberty 
or property without due process of law. Now the constabulary 
and the handling of these people by the constabulary under the 
reconcentrationi law is a direct corollary of the fundamental 
mistake that the administration made in the Pliilippincs, name- 
ly, the excessively optimistic belief that those people are or 
ever will be satisfied with something less than independence. 
It is the most pathetic fact in the whole situation, the general 
yearning of all the people of the Philippine Islands for a 
national life of their own. 

1 have been requested by friends to deal more with the auto- 
biographical aspect of the situation, but have been so earnestly 
set upon demonstrating to the voters of the country the essen- 
tials of the problem as to have neglected what you might call 
"in lighter vein." I was holding court once in the Province 
of Albay, where this reconcentration business had coralled tens 
of thousands of people. Prof. Willis says 300,000 in his 
book. I don't know just how many, but a very great number 
of people. It was a gravely trcjublesomc^ insurrection. An 
insurrection is called an insurrection colloquially in the Philip- 
pines, but never in the cablegrams. The Philippine Govern- 
ment Bill provides that the writ of habeas corpus nuiy be sus- 
yiended where public safety requires it. In order to suspend 
this writ you have got to call a spade a spade, an insurrection 
an insurrection, which the Philippine government does not like 
to do and will under no circumstances do on the eve of a presi- 
dential (dection. The insurrection to which I have referred 
was in progress in Albay from 1902 to 1003, one year. There 
Avere at times as many as 1,500 men in the field on each side 



and this is the first time you ever heard of it. Yet civil gov- 
ernanent kept up and the *rit of habeas corpus was not sus- 
pended. Under those circumstances, where the Judge of the 
Circuit earnestly and loyally holds up the civil government, 
amid the good humored jests of military friends, who insist you 
will have to turn the situation over to them sooner or later, and 
the people are crowded inrto jails by hundreds and the writ of 
habeas corpus is not suspended, the J udge becomes a sort of writ 
of habeas corpus incarnate. He must sort the sheep from the 
goats and either turn loose or convict as quickly as practicable, 
lest people awaiting trial die before he can get to them. I have 
the honor, if you will pardon a personal allusion, to have from 
the bar of my district a recommendation for the Supreme Bench 
which recites that the particular person whose interests they are 
presenting, has presided in three different provinces v/here in- 
surrections were going on. In the Philippines we call a spade 
a spade. In the Philippines the inventor of phrases has done 
some very ingenious things. Those who are familiar with the 
management of the interior economy of the army know that 
certain things are classified as expendable and unexpendable, 
and when you are relieved from an army post by your successor 
you do not have to account for expendable property such as 
pencils, paper, etc., etc., but only for shovels, picks, etc., etc., 
which are in the unexpendable class and have always to be ac- 
counted for. It has become the practice in the Philippines now, 
when, the constabulary goes on an expedition for the newspapers 
in Manila quietl}' and demurely and without any excitement 
to tell you how many Puiahanes the recent expedition ''ex- 
pended." 

The Albay insurrection was headed by a man named Ola. 
The Filipinos are a very affectionate people, kindly, considerate, 
thoughtful. Ola was the head of the inisurrection. He w^as 
finally induced to surrender and come in. He was sentenced to 
thirty years in the penitentiary, but having been of great 
service to the government in identifying his former followers 
and in the matter of state's evidence, when the ship was sent 
to carry the prisoners to Manila, Ola was not chained. And 
therefore you will understand the fact that there was an entente 
cordiale between us. During the night the stateroom grew too 
warm and I left it and went back to sleep in the back part of 
the ship near the stern steering gear. During the night I 
awoke, and just how I don't know, but it came to my conscious- 

10 



ness that tlici'c was a head mi the otlicr side ul' ilic |iill(i\v, aiitl 
I looked, and In and In Ihdd llicic was tlic haiMlit idiii't', iii\- 
friend Olal 1 said: "What arc vmi (h»in^ liei-cT' and lie iiii- 
iiiediatcdy juiuiu-d up and went awav. 1 recoiled eoniinj;- I'roni 
time to time to semi-consciousness, only to see that Ohi was 
pacing U]) and dowm the deck. He was evidently a sentin( 1 lor 
me. Toward m()rnin<>' the constahulary <;iiard guarding him 
begun t(. (diatter. Ola was a man who had roinniaiidccl men, 
and he ))roeeetled at once to take charge of his gnaid and order 
them to keep qniet, as the judge was sleeping! Ola has since 
heen ])ardoned. 

1 must not say good-hye to you without clearing up one mis- 
apprehension, because 1 am willing to give the devil hi- (hie. 
1 have a letter received recently from one of the most eminent 
members of the bar of your city in which he asks a very 
personal question. "It has been alleged that the commission ha:^ 
ti-ied to influence the courts. 1 do not know whether this is 
true, but if you can throw any light on it the reply will be 
welcomed." I can say that the lawyers who have charge of 
the Philij)|)ine government have never been guilty of any un- 
professional conduct. Plowever, the one thing which avc are 
all, without one dissenting 'voice, agreed upon, is that the 
circuit iudges ini the Philip])ines should be commissionc-d by 
the President of the United States and not by the local govern- 
ment. The attorney-general of the Philippine I>lan(ls and the 
Secretarv >'f War, and the most enthusiastic supporter of Mr. 
Bryan', all agree on that proposition. 

I must close with one further remark. AVithout putting 
myself upon the witness stand you can readily see that if you 
bring together hundreds and thousands of people under the re- 
concentrationi law, herding together the ignorant peasant, and 
his wife, still more ignorant and more helpless, and his children, 
born and to be borni, and his old people tottering toward the 
latt(>r end. some of them are going to die of exposure, bad sani- 
tariim or hunger, before the period of reconcentration ends. 

And, >eeing that the comstabulary reconcentration law, and 
other errors have caused in the Philippines much absolutely un- 
necessarv sacrifice of life, T cannot but repeat now wliar Senator 
IToar said in Ins last initlietic ]»ul>lic jirotest on tlie floor of the 
Senate: "We have got mothing but honor out of Cuba. AVc 
have got nothing of honor out of the Philippines." 

11 



MR. STOREY. 

Mr. Blount, lias said that one who has been in the PJiilippines 
for a number of years is so full of his subject that you only 
liave to tap him and he will runi. It occurs to me that some of 
the members here might like to ask some questions. 

REV. J. L. TRYON. 

I cannot quite understand the motive of these brigands. I 
think the most of us in this country, when we are told of the 
constabulary or army officers having to suppress brigandage, are 
disinclined to sympathize with the immediate freedom of the 
Philippines, — the fear being that as outlaws we cannot depend 
upon them. You speak of them as being embers of the fire 
of civil war. I think it might help me and others if you would 
explaini iust what you mean by that. 

JUDGE BLOUNT. 

I can reply to that and tell you what the sheriff of my court 
in Samar said. He was not as active as he might have been 
in pursuing the brigands who were out in the hills, because his 
favorite expression with reference to them was (not to us 
Americans, but when he supposed it would not reach cur ears) : 
"I don't think it my duty to persecute my brethren in the 
hills." They had served under him in the war. The feeling 
of brotherhood between the sheriff of the court and the 
brigands was strong. 

MR. TRYON. 

Did they prey upon their owns people and try to make them 
come round to their views of "independence?" Is that some- 
thing like the strikers? 

JUDGE BLOtriSTT. 

I would not for a moment have you to understand me that 
there are not brigands pure and simple in the Philippines,^ be- 
cause there are, but to say that the brigaudage in the Philip- 
pines does not to a large extent represent the embers of the 
late war is to totally misrepresent the key to the situation. The 

12 



iiisunci-tioii for instance in Sjuuiir represented »lisei>ntenl with 
the tax aatherer and nsnrer and a (h'sire in some feehh- inarti«'- 
ulale way ii> manifest t\\v snIN'ii dc|itli- nl' their di.-cuiileiil 
with American rule. The intelligent men, the lead< :s of the 
jx'oplo have reeogni/.ed tiie fntility (»f lighting long ago and 
come in, — Agiiinaldo and others, — i>iit many have never r<- 
turned to the paths of j)eace. This very insnireetion in Samar 
I was able to get to the bottom of, and 1 found that the 
inieleiis of it was a hand of 100 men who hail come from tin; 
Island of I>iliran nnder the leatlership of an ex-scddier, and it 
was still going oni in 1UU4 and on thronglr liiO"). The niKden- 
(d' that i)rigand outbreak was the 100 men who had been in the 
late war. It is not therefore fair to characterize l)rigan<lage as 
entiiely non-])olitical, because if you tell tlie sheriff of tlie court 
of Samar to tell Ins people that on such and such a date in the 
future the American CJoverniucnt, having already disclainu'd 
sovereignty, they are to be free and independent, that those of 
them having a reasonable expectancy of life may hope to see 
the inde])endence of their country, the brigandage in Sanuir will 
stop. 

PKOF. 11. B. tSPliACJUE. 

T should like to ask if this reconcentratioii policy is now 
ojx'ialive in fhe Islands^ 

JUDGE BLOUXT. 

In operation and a part of the statute law of the land. 

PROF. SPlJACiUE. 

fan anv fair estimate be made of the niuid)er of lives lost or 
deaths caused by this^ 

JUDGE BLOUNT. 

^ly friend (!en. Allen reports that he killeil 1,l"J7 last year. 

MM. STOREY. 

Ton will remember that dui'ing the Boer War there wa- 
mu(di talk in Kngland agaiu.-t the jiolicy of reci^tN-eiitration in 

13 



South Africa. There was issued each month a "blue book" 
giving an excellent record of the whole number of people re- 
concentrated and the absolute loss of life in every camp. This 
"blue book" stated what private property had been destroyed, 
onj what date, by whom and for what reason-, down to fences, 
down to bales of hay, and other thing's of that sort, so that the 
English public were always advised of what, was being done in 
their name in South Africa. I wrote a letter to the Insular De- 
partment asking information upon this matter in the Philip- 
pines and received in a day or two a reply stating that my letter 
had been referred to the Civil Commissiou for inquiry and re- 
port. I observed in the niewspapers that the editors of the 
Manila "El: Renacimiento" had been prosecuted for libel in 
making publication of some correspondence concerning the de- 
tails of reconcentration soon after. That! seemed to be the 
action which the Commission took upon my inquiry. The 
prosecution was pursued iu. the criminal courts and resulted in 
the acquittal of the editors. Emboldened by that, I again ad- 
dressed the Insular Department and called their attention to the 
fact that I had received no reply to my letter. I was then 
advised that such reports as were available would be f»»und in 
their annual publicationB, and they sent me a set. Then I 
called their attention to the fact that these "blue books" had 
been) published in England, and I wanted to know if anywhere 
there were any statistics which would show how many camps 
there had been, how many people had been exposed to that 
practice, and how many had perished under it, as I found that 
there were no such records in these reports. I am unanswered. 
We are left to guess what the probable results must be of 
taking something like 300,000 people away, herding them in 
camps and leaving them to live or die. At the annual meeting 
of the League I shall be inclined to lay before you that cor- 
respondence so that you may see for yourself what the state of 
affairs is. 

PROF. WILLIAM JAMES. 

Can you tell us whether there is any reconcentration actually 
being applied now in the Philippines? 

JUDGE BLOUNT. 

There has not been reconcentration under the Constabulary 

14 



to Jiiiv extent except in AIImv in llMi:; an'l in Sainar in lHOl, 
and in ('a\iie, neai- .Manila, in lIMi;). TliaL is In say this uii- 
sj)ortsnianlike reeont-ent rat inn ol mv friend IJaker. The rc- 
eoncentj-ation of (icn. l>i'll in lialanj;as wa.s under the military 
in I:M)1. 

Mv. Storev called npon Mr. W'illiain l.lnyd C!arri><iii. 

MK. WIIJJA.M I.I.OVI) (i.\in;iSOX\S KK.M.VKKS. 

We have listened to the niatui'ed opinions of our litie.-t, Judg'e 
J)loiint, of (Jeoriiia, resulting- from long- experience in tlio 
Philippines. They reflect the sober second thouglir now 
g-atherinu' head throughout the land. The prophecies of the 
tjoothsavers lia\e been falsified and the glamour of war has 
passed wliile its gliastliness remains. \'oices of >hame and 
humiliation multiply where recent protests against imperialism 
were deemed the utterances of treason.. Commercial loss and 
the forfeiture of self-respect indicate that the day of sackddth 
and aslies is app.iy)aching. 

Idle conscious effort to forget, if not to atone for the natioiTs 
criminal aggression, is suddenly jarred by the Bourbon tones of 
Dr. Lyman Abbott. From the seclu>iou of Lake ^Folionk come 
these assertive words, befitting- a mind beyond the ])ower to 
forget or learn: 

"I believe the ])roudest chapter in our history is that written 
by the statesmanship of ^[cKinley, the g-uns of Dewty, and the 
administration of Taft. There is nothing- to repent, nothing to 
retract; our duty is to go on and complete the work already so 
well begun. T do not defend or apologize foi- what we have 
done in the Philippines. I glory in it. We must give them a 
government, not for our benefit, but ])rimarily for the benefit 
of the J^ilipinos." 

The proudest cha])ter in our history I Ten years ago the 
cha])ter that included the iMnancijiation of four million slaves 
held that distinction. The chapter viewed with ])rid,' by Dr. 
Abbott includes the betrayal of trusting allies, the annihilation 
of half a million of peo])le struggling for independence, the 
repudiation of AnuM-ican ideals, the monstrous increa.se of arma- 
ments and the as-nin)ition of despotic power by the President. 
Prom the atmospliere of Lincoln we have sunk <:o this, and the 
glib phra-es coined by empire makers have deliased the cur- 

15 



rency of speecli in the United States. In this accomplishment 
the successor of Henry Ward Beecher now "gdories." And it 
is easier to gdory in than to defend or apoh)gize for a chapter 
of disgrace. Who doubts that this apostate era will bear the 
stamp of inglorious when its true historian arrives? 

With the revised judgment of events will follow a new esti- 
mate of reputations. It will be truthfully written that an un- 
principled plutocrat with shameless daily presses stirred to the 
depths the depraved element of the country — perhaps the most 
powerful influence that forced the war Avith Spain. It can 
be said with equal truth that the editor of the "Outlook," a 
preacher of the gospel of peace, the ethical favorite of philan- 
thropic convocations and college pulpits, after the event, 
exercised even a greater power, — drugging the public con- 
science and with pious sophistry demoralizing the great con- 
stituencv which takes its religion and politics from his fluent 
and machiavelian pen. Into how many households has this 
weekly perversion of ]:)rinciples found its way, confusing issues, 
weakening,- moral standards and cultivating that bourgeois com- 
placencv which stands behind the heathen war-cry, "Our 
country right or -wrong!" 

In comparison with Dr. Abbott and his like appear the ex- 
ecutioners who, when the conflict was precipitated, led in the 
slaughter of the victims. But Bell and Funston and Wood 
simply followed their professional calling. 

"Theirs not to make reply. 
Theirs not to reason why," 
and, from the standpoint of legalized murder, they were 
in the line of duty. They made no altruistic pretences, were 
embarrassed bv no scruples of abstract justice or fear of in- 
fringing constitutional safeguards. They stand in the category 
of Thackeray's "red coat bully in his boots who hides the 
march of men from us." By their own yardstick they have a 
right to claim measurement. 

But a different method of judgment is reserved for the 
teacher of ethics. The moral law is unswerving, and by its 
verdict, thoug-h titles of divinity adorn his name, the offender 
must, in the last analysis, abide. 

The prototypes of Dr. Abbott are ]-)iominent in every past 
struggle for human rights. They included men of learning 
and position, model husbands and fathers, and of lovely neigh- 
borhood repute. Yet, without them and their influence tyranny 

16 



woulil liiivc hii'kcd its iiccosRary dcfcnct- iiml slidtci-. Tlic pujm- 
larity of their day \va<i tunictl to (•ciisuic or pily uinlcr the 
transfonniiifz; touch of the ini]t;iiti:il historian. 'I'hcir own 
postcritv is caivful to for<;('t the unsavory cpisoch's wliich make 
ancestral names so tryin^ly ])ersistent. 

If tlie desire of Dr. Abbott to ^ive the Fili|uiios a ^(tvcrn- 
ment for their own benefit be hehl to modify hi- cuilorsement 
of our calamitous career in their (h'vastated ishmd^-, the wish is 
a behited one. It was in ordc' before the hun(h'e<ls of thousands 
now in araves because of our fateful coming- were beyond the 
Y{'nc\\ of )nitronizini>' benevolence. 

"Spirit of Kant! have we not had enon<ih 
To make Keligion sad and .sour and snid)bish/' 
without further theological attempts to hide the nakednesa 
of imperialism under the garments of Christianity^ 

In a similar jxn'iod of national debasement, when loyalty to 
truth denninded disloyalty to nding power-, Wendell I'iiillips 
rejoiced in being "infidel to a chnrcli that ccuild be at peace in 
the presence of sin; traitor to a government that was a magnifi- 
ecnt conspiracy against justice." It was a noble ex])ression of 
divine faith. And in this season of spiritnal drought, the faith- 
lessness iui organized church and state, remembering the swift 
reversal of verdict that followed the triumph of the anti- 
slavery canse, the opponents of pr(\-ent established wrongs can 
confidently await ''the safe appeal of truth to time." 

MR. STOREY. 

I should like to add that CJen. Funston and Gen. Bell were; 
soldiers in the army of the United States. They obeyed the 
orders of their commander-in-chief and are excused. Dr. 
Abbott is an officer in the army of Christ. Has he obeyed the 
orders of his commander-in-chief, and can he be excused {! 

"We shall be glad to hear from any other gentlennm present 
who woulil like to say something. If not, T wouhl sugu'est that 
the atteiidaiiee of all i~ de-ii'ed at our aninuil meeting which 
tako place in tive or six weeks. 

The meetiuii' was dissolved. 



17 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




013 788 256 5 



